INDEPENDENCE, Ohio – Four months after Isaiah Thomas hobbled off the basketball court in the Eastern Conference finals, we still have no idea when he might debut for the Cavs. It won’t be opening night. Tyronn Lue confirmed as much. Beyond that?

Cavs general manager Koby Altman used the word “timetable” four times Thursday while refusing to put one on Thomas. He twice prevented Thomas from answering questions about his ailing right hip, which is still injured badly enough that it delayed the completion of the Kyrie Irving trade with Boston for nearly a week.

What’s clear now is Thomas won’t be playing in games anytime soon. Four months later, he is still limited to just treatment and the weight room. That’s it. The fact the Cavs won’t even address the hip is, at best, unsettling. It’s not like this happened a week or even a month ago. It’s reasonable to expect a firmer timeline four months removed from the injury, yet the only thing we know for sure is that Thomas won’t have surgery to repair his torn labrum. Anything else regarding the hip was off-limits Thursday.

“If you want to talk about Isaiah, let’s talk about Isaiah as an All-Star. Let’s talk about Isaiah, the guy who averaged 29 points a game last year,” Altman said. “Let’s talk about him as a leader and what he’s going to bring to this franchise, in terms of his performance on the court when we get him back.”

It’d be much easier to talk about those things if there was any assurance he was going to be that same player when he returned. Thomas has promised on multiple occasions now that he would still be the dynamic scorer he was prior to the tear, but does anyone really know? Hip tears are fairly serious injuries, particularly for undersized guards whose entire games are predicated on agility and explosion.

Based on Altman’s answers, it’s fair to wonder whether the Cavs even know yet when Thomas will return.

“Our performance team has mapped out a great plan, a multi-faceted plan to really attack this thing. And Isaiah is deeply committed to that,” Altman said when I asked if the Cavs had a timeline in place and just weren’t sharing it or whether they didn’t even know themselves. “Day-by-day as he gets better, I think we’ll have a better grasp of it. We’ll let you guys know when those thresholds are crossed.”

So I asked Altman once again if that means the Cavs aren’t even sure yet when Thomas will return.

“I don’t want to talk about a timeline right now,” he said.

Draw your own conclusion.

One source with direct knowledge of Thomas’ hip condition told The Athletic last week that he is dealing with more than just a tear. Some of those secondary issues in the hip he has played with for years now, such as a loss of cartilage and some arthritis, are complicating his healing process.

“No one has any idea how quickly this will heal or if it even will heal at all,” the source said. “It’s hard to predict.”

I’ve heard from many of you that I’m being too critical of the Cavs over this trade. And it’s true I have deep reservations. It’s difficult for me to see how the Cavs are definitively better today than they were a week ago because of Thomas’ unknown condition and his fit on this roster.

How can anyone be certain Thomas will return to being the player he was before? How will he fit alongside LeBron James? Thomas is just as ball dominant as Irving. Remember early in their first season together when James stood in the corner and refused to participate while Irving dribbled and dribbled and dribbled all around the city of Portland? How much time will James and Thomas have together on the court to get acclimated prior to the start of the playoffs?

Jae Crowder will be a terrific addition as a gritty wing defender. He brings a toughness and physicality defensively the Cavs have lacked since letting Matthew Dellavedova walk in free agency.

But how does Thomas fit defensively even if he returns to full health? Lue’s preferred scheme against the pick-and-roll is to switch everything. How can the Cavs switch on defense when Thomas is on the floor? A switch would leave him guarding wings who are a foot taller.

As for the Brooklyn pick the Cavs received, I have strong doubts they’ll flip it between now and February’s trade deadline. For now, it’s an insurance policy in case James bolts town again next summer. Even if they are eager to trade it, who will they buy with it?

It’s rare for one superstar to become available in a season, yet three of them have been traded in the last four months. Now that Paul George, Jimmy Butler and Irving are off the board, what other star worthy of that pick is going to become available between now and February?

DeMarcus Cousins? Given James’ uncertain future, it’s hard to envision Dan Gilbert flipping that pick for a mercurial talent who is also entering free agency next summer. Anything can happen within the next five months, but it’s hard to identify a star now that will be available in trade by winter.

Until we know when Thomas will return and what type of condition he’ll be in, and until the Cavs decide what to do with the Brooklyn pick, it’s impossible to evaluate what exactly they received for trading away the second-best player on their team. Thursday’s array of dodging, dipping and dancing did little to soothe any of those concerns.

Jason Lloyd is the editor-in-chief of The Athletic Cleveland. He previously spent seven years covering the Cavs for the Akron Beacon Journal. His first book, "The Blueprint: LeBron James, Cleveland's Deliverance and the Making of the Modern NBA" debuted on Oct. 24. Follow Jason on Twitter @JasonLloydNBA.